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which they had received from him might fairly he ascribed, atleast in part, the firmness with which, in spite of the influenceof then- father, they had adhered to the established religion.Compton was, moreover, the only prelate who, during thelate reign, had raised his voice in Parliament against the dis-pensing power, the only prelate who had been suspended bythe High Commission, the only prelate who had signed theinvitation to the Prince of Orange, the only prelate who hadactually taken arms against Popery and arbitrary power, theonly prelate, save one, who had voted against a Regency.Among the ecclesiastics of the Province of Canterbury who hadtaken the oaths, he was highest in rank. He had thereforeheld, during some months, a vicarious primacy: he hadcrowned the new Sovereigns: he had consecrated the newBishops: he was about to preside in the Convocation. It maybe added, that he was the son of an Earl; and that no personof equally high birth then sate, or had ever sate, since theReformation, on the episcopal bench. That the governmentshould put over his head a priest of his own diocese, who wasthe son of a Yorkshire clothier, and who was distinguishedonly by abilities and virtues, was provoking; and Compton,though by no means a badhearted man, was much provoked.Perhaps his vexation was increased by the reflection that hehad, for the sake of those hy whom he was thus slighted, donesome things which had strained his conscience and sullied hisreputation, that he had at one time practised the disingenuousarts of a diplomatist, and at another time given scandal to hisbrethren by wearing the buff coat and jackboots of a trooper.He could not accuse Tillotson of inordinate ambition. But,though Tillotson was most unwilling to accept the Archbishoprichimself, he did not use his influence in favour of Compton, butearnestly recommended Stillingfleet as the man fittest topreside over the Church of England. The consequence was

CHAP.

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